The government is on track to spend more than $174 million this financial year on advertising - the most in a decade - as it crams in 15 simultaneous campaigns across TV, radio and print before the federal election.

The Coalition has back-loaded its advertising spend, pumping $136 million in taxpayer funded advertising contracts into the second half of the financial year, an increase of 200 per cent on the first six months of 2018-19, when it spent $38 million.

The Coalition has pumped $136 million in taxpayer funded advertising contracts into the second half of the financial year.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

Independents in both the Senate and the House of Representatives have labelled the spending a farce and called for an investigation.

South Australian independent Tim Storer said spending spikes in election years revealed the ads were "more about winning votes than informing the public" and called for the establishment of a Parliamentary Integrity Commissioner to investigate "misuse of public funds".

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Wentworth MP Kerryn Phelps said the splurge was "a disgrace" and will write to the Australian National Audit Office on Wednesday urging them investigate whether it was an appropriate use of taxpayers’ money.

Crossbench MP Kerryn Phelps and independent senator Tim Storer are both calling for investigations into the advertising spend.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

"This is our money," said Dr Phelps. "The major parties are as bad as each other when it comes to spending taxpayers’ dollars on government advertising."

Labor put millions of taxpayer dollars into a border protection campaign in its final months in office in 2013 in a bid to shore up community concerns over its border security record.

Once an election is called - expected within a week - the government will have to use party funding to run advertising campaigns.

The Department of Finance has refused to release the amount of money spent daily on advertising, telling Senate estimates on Tuesday the figures were "cabinet in confidence" but Labor estimates it is worth up to $600,000 a day or $4.2 million a week.

Liberal senator Zed Seselja said the Labor estimates were "clearly false numbers used deliberately for political purposes" while refusing to confirm the daily figure.

Senate estimates heard the spending increase has coincided with a near 75 per cent increase of the number of advertising committee meetings in cabinet, up from 15 in the second half of last year, to 10 in the first three months of 2019.

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The meetings have overseen the role out of more than a dozen campaigns across defence force recruitment, school funding, energy costs, asylum seeker boat turn backs, and infrastructure roll-outs.

The Austender contracts show the government is on track to spend $136 million on advertising by the middle of this year on top of the $38 million it spent in the second half of last year.

In 2017-18 the Coalition spent $157 million, including budget advertising, according to the finance department's annual report, down from $174 million in 2015-16 in the lead up to the 2016 election. Labor spent $138.9 million in 2012-13. The Howard government holds the record at $254 million in 2007.

The parties agreed to an advertising truce over the Easter break on Tuesday, meaning there will be no election campaign advertising on Good Friday, Easter Sunday or Anzac Day, less than a month before voters are expected to go back to the polls on May 18 or May 25.